On the back of three wins in four outings the Bulls come into Friday's United Rugby Championship Round 5 clash at Edinburgh at the top of the early season standings
Edinburgh v Bulls, Friday 17th November, Edinburgh, KO 21:35 (South African time)
Referee: Chris Busby (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Ru Campbell (Scotland), Michael Todd (Scotland)
TMO: Eoghan Cross (Ireland)
Weather Forecast - Edinburgh
Edinburgh:
Edinburgh are 1 of 7 teams to have won 3 and lost 1 of their 4 matches but they are only half way down a congested log with 12 points against their name.
Their only defeat came in Round 3 away to Leinster (36-27) and all their other matches have gone to the wire. Edinburgh were away to the Dragons in Round 1 and they came through with a 22-17 victory and they followed up by edging out the Lions 17-16 at this venue in Round 2. Last weekend Edinburgh came out on top in another close one, getting the better of Connacht 25-22 in another home fixture.
Last season's match ups with South African sides saw Edinburgh lose 33-31 away to the Bulls and 34-18 away to the Stormers. They were also edged out by the Lions (22-19) in a home fixture and the Sharks also won 22-19 on their visit here.
In the outright betting to win the title BoyleSports make Edinburgh 56/1 shots.
Bulls:
The Bulls came away from Cardiff with an 18-12 victory in Round 4, a winning margin just a point or so shy of the main handicap line. That saw them finish the round in top spot with 3 wins and 1 defeat, they share the same number of points (15) as Leinster and Glasgow Warriors whilst only 3 points separates the top 8 sides.
Earlier the Bulls broke the duck of South African sides on tour when they beat Zebre 52-29 in Parma in Round 3 and they started their campaign with a 63-21 hiding of the Scarlets at Loftus. The Bulls lost their first tour match 26-19 to Ulster in Round 2 where they had to settle for a losing bonus point.
Against Scottish opposition last season the Bulls beat Edinburgh 33-31 at Loftus but went down 35-21 to the Warriors in Glasgow.
In the outright betting the Bulls are 11/1 shots to win the tournament with BoyleSports
Team News
Edinburgh: 15 Blair Kinghorn, 14 Wes Goosen, 13 Mark Bennett, 12 James Lang, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Ben Healy, 9 Ben Vellacott, 8 Viliame Mata, 7 Connor Boyle, 6 Jamie Ritchie, 5 Grant Gilchrist, 4 Glen Young, 3 WP Nel, 2 Ewan Ashman, 1 Pierre Schoeman
Replacements: 16 Dave Cherry, 17 Boan Venter, 18 Javan Sebastian, 19 Marshall Sykes, 20 Tom Dodd, 21 Ali Price, 22 Cammy Scott, 23 Chris Dean
Bulls: 15 Devon Williams, 14 Sebastian de Klerk, 13 Stedman Gans, 12 David Kriel, 11 Sergeal Petersen, 10 Johan Goosen, 9 Embrose Papier, 8 Cameron Hanekom, 7 Elrigh Louw, 6 Marchell Coetzee (captain), 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Ruan Vermaak, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Johan Grobberlaar, 1 Gerhard Steenekamp.
Replacements: 16 Simphiwe Matanzima, 17 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 18 Mornay Smith, 19 Reinhardt Ludwig, 20 Nizaam Carr, 21 Keagan Johannes, 22 Jaco van der Walt, 23 Cyle Brink
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The Betting,
Edinburgh -2.5 points at 9/10
Bulls +3.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Betting Angle
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I am taking a rare weekend away with the wife and so am getting my pick up early for this one.
Having initially handicapped this game Bulls -2.5 I was leaning to them when the handicap came out Edinburgh -2.5. The locals will be fielding a number of internationals though and I am not confident enough on the Bulls to pull the trigger.
Looking at the weather there is a chance of rain although at this point it could also be a dry game. The points line is set at 51.5 and I reckon that’s a bit high.
Edinburgh’s 2 home games this season have had 33 and 47 points in them and while the Bulls match against Zebre was high scoring their tighter games against Ulster and Cardiff had 45 and 30 points in total.
Stay close to our forum thread for more bets
BET: 4 units under 51.5 points at 87/100 at Pokerbet*
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Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
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